 |
| Thank Evan Amos for such great console images. |
However, probably the most bizarre thing about the GameCube is that it also sometimes felt as though the console was treated as a bit of an also ran by the publishers themselves, namely when it came to multi-platform releases. While there were certainly plenty of games where the GameCube port came out more or less at the same time as on the other consoles, maybe no more than a month later, there were seemingly way more examples of games coming out on Nintendo's fourth home video game console literal months after the initial release, if not a year or even more! For some of these releases the same was true for an Xbox or PS2 port, so in those cases it was likely a case of timed exclusivity, which is nothing too shocking. Still, there was a surprising amount of consistency when it came to GameCube ports coming out notably later than almost anything else, which in turn made it feel like Nintendo's console truly was the also ran of the lot, where those who decided to go with the GameCube over the PS2 or Xbox were seemingly punished by having to wait longer for certain games, while their friends who sided elsewhere were rewarded with games first (& more games, overall).
So, in this 25th Anniversary year of the GameCube's launch, let's go over some of these games that wound up coming to the GameCube way, way, waaaaaaay later than other consoles... and see if GameCube owners at least received something special for their patience.
I must admit, some of the entries I came up with are a bit odd &, really, if it weren't for the fact that they were bizarrely late arrivals to the GameCube then some of them wouldn't really be brought up by most nowadays. Case in point is out first entry, 4x4 Evo 2. Originally released for PC & the Sega Dreamcast in October 2000, the first 4x4 Evo(lution) was an off-road racing game developed by a pre-BloodRayne Terminal Reality & could maybe be seen as a spiritual successor to its two Monster Truck Madness games, with the titular monster trucks instead replaced by more standard licensed 4x4 trucks. 4x4 Evo was most notable for being one of the first examples of true cross-platform online play, as owners of the Windows, Mac, & Dreamcast versions could all race against each other, as well as download each others' custom race tracks, & in fact the game's online play is still available to this day, even on Dreamcast. The game would later receive a PS2 port in early 2001, but that version featured no online play whatsoever.
4x4 Evo must have done pretty well, as publisher Gathering of Developers (or GodGames, as they had renamed themselves by the PS2 port's release) decided to put a sequel into production. Also developed by Terminal Reality (which by this point was also working on BloodRayne), 4x4 Evo 2 would first come out for Windows PC in October 2001, followed by an Xbox port one month later, & finally a Mac port in February 2002. European releases would then come out later that June, and in September of 2002, 11 months after the initial PC version came out, 4x4 Evo 2 finally saw release on the GameCube; there would also be a PS2 port, but it was Europe-exclusive & didn't come out until April 2003! For context this GameCube port, now published by Universal Interactive (since Gathering was slowly being phased out by owner Take-Two by this point), came out a month prior to the release of Bloodrayne, so in some way this GC version of 4x4 Evo 2 was already feeling like it was a game from a prior era of Terminal Reality, as BloodRayne would open the door for the studio in a lot of notable ways. In later years they'd be known for games like 2005's Æon Flux (based on the live-action movie based on the animated series), a number of SNK game collections, 2009's Ghostbusters: The Video Game.... & 2012's Kinect Star Wars; hey, they were "notable", but not exactly always great.
So did the GameCube version of 4x4 Evo 2 at least offering anything special to make up for the nigh-year long wait? Actually, it does look to have done just that, as the back cover lists four "GameCube exclusive" tracks, as well as four exclusive trucks, and while the packaging only lists "over 30 tracks" & "more than 40 upgradable off-road machines" the packaging for the Xbox & PC originals do specifically list 32 tracks & over 120 vehicles. It's entirely possible that the GameCube port has fewer vehicles, but considering that the PC version was released on CD instead of DVD it's more likely that (for whatever reason) Universal seemingly decided to undersell how many vehicles were actually in the game. However, if one really wanted to play the most comprehensive version of 4x4 Evo 2, without relying on user-made content on the PC at least, then that looks to be the PS2 port that came last, as the packaging there touts 150+ vehicles & over 40 courses; hey, at least Terminal Reality continued to keep adding to this game for later ports.
Up next is another vehicular-focused title, but in this case the late GameCube port looks to truly be the undisputed best version. Released as a launch title for the PlayStation 2 in North America on October 26, 2000, Smuggler's Run was a mission-based game developed by Angel Studios (of Midtown Madness & Resident Evil 2 for N64 fame; now Rockstar San Diego) & published by Rockstar Games where you played as a smuggler who delivered cargo across three different large, open-ended environments, all while avoiding border patrol, the CIA, & rival gangs; it'd later see release in Japan under the title Crazy Bump's: Kattobi Car Battle. The game was generally well received, even getting a Greatest Hits re-release in 2003, & would remain a PS2-exclusive for home consoles, while a pared down port to the Game Boy Advance by Rebellion would come out in late 2002. The success of Smuggler's Run resulted in Angel Studios & Rockstar putting a sequel into development, and almost exactly a year after the first game's release Smuggler's Run 2: Hostile Territory came out on the PS2 on October 30, 2001. The sequel was more or less similar to the first, only now with a new plot that took place in Russia & Vietnam (instead of the first game's "Forest, Desert, & Snow" areas), and in that sense it's not too surprising that this game marked the end of the series, as Angel Studios would focus more on the Midnight Run & (later on) Red Dead series.
However, one last Smuggler's Run game would see release 10 months after the release Hostile Territory, and that would be Smuggler's Run: Warzones for the GameCube on August 7, 2002. The cover for this GC game was a neat fusion of the covers of the initial two games, and that's because Warzones is (in some way) a fusion of both Smuggler's Run games. The entire Hostile Territory campaign is found in this game, with all 36 missions across three environments (Russia, Vietnam, Russia Winter), but now there are tokens to look for & collect in Warzones. Finding all of the tokens in an environment will unlock bonus missions, which originally were locked behind checkpoint races in Hostile Territory, but tokens also play into the big addition for the GameCube. Namely, Warzones features five environments to drive around in, with the new Eastern Europe & North America areas (the latter of which is unlocked by gathering enough tokens) being based on two of the three areas from the original Smuggler's Run! This isn't even a hidden bonus, as the back cover touts there being five areas... alongside 4-player support, whereas the two PS2 games were both only 2-player, max. Not just that but apparently the frame rate is also much improved in Warzones & looks to hit a relatively steady 60 fps, so in the end if you're curious about Smuggler's Run then it really does look like the only one to really play would be the bizarrely late GameCube port of the second game, as it's essentially getting both games in one (minus one area that remained exclusive to the original) with an improved frame rate & even better multiplayer.
If only all bizarrely late GameCube ports were like Smuggler's Run: Warzones; i.e. the undisputed best version.
This next one is an interesting case, as technically this is an entirely separate entry in a franchise rather than a "port", but when you see that this entry came out less than a year after the prior one then I think it's fair to say that this is still eligible, on some level. Before EA Sports became known primarily for just a small handful of sports games (American football, college football, association football, MMA, the occasional golf, & a variety of racing types), the iconic brand spread its wings far across a vast network of other sports... like boxing. In late 1995 there was Foes of Ali for the 3DO, one of the earliest boxing games to use 3D polygons (& possibly the first to do it well), & EA Sports would follow that up with a spiritual successor three years later with Knockout Kings for the PS1. While the original game was a PS1-exclusive it would quickly turn into a yearly franchise, with each new entry featuring the successive year of when it came out, & across multiple platforms. Likely due to some delays, though, Knockout Kings 2002 wouldn't come out until March 5, 2002, where it was released on PS2 & Xbox... but then on October 9, 2002, seven months later, there was the next (& final) entry in EA Sports' boxing franchise, Knockout Kings 2003... and it was a GameCube-exclusive.
If all you looked at was the covers then you'd think that, while it was weird for Knockout Kings 2003 to be a GC-exclusive, it was simply the next yearly entry in the series. However, when you look at those release dates it really does seem more likely that this GC-exclusive entry may just be a late port of Knockout Kings 2002, and EA simply decided to use the next year to obfuscate things, especially since the next boxing game to come out under the EA Sports label, Fight Night 2004 (the start of the successor series to Knockout Kings), would come out on PS2 & Xbox only a mere six months later, on April 5, 2004. And, indeed, if you look at the back covers to both the 2002 & 2003 games you'd find that they share almost exactly the same text & blurbs on them, from the "And Still Champion of the World" tagline, four of the exact same features (only with 2003 using the full names of various boxers, where 2002 just used their last names), & even the blurbs accompanying their respective images being immensely similar ("Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee" is used in both, "Bring the Pain" is changed to "Unleash the Pain", & "Go Toe-to-Toe with Trinidad" is changed to "Go Toe-to-Toe with the Best"). Without a doubt, outside of a handful of changes to the roster of boxers (Vitali & Wladimir Klitchko are replaced with Sonny Liston & Rocky Marciano, while Johnny Tapia is out with no replacement), Knockout Kings 2003 is (for all intents & purposes) the bizarrely late GameCube port of Knockout Kings 2002... but there is one major difference between them that truly is exclusive to this GC port: Slugfest Mode.
Alongside the usual Career, Exhibition, Tournament, & Create-A-Boxer modes, Slugfest is a more arcade-y mode where rounds & rules are removed entirely, with the resulting fights being focused around hitting specific head & body blows to fill a gauge in the lower corners of the screen, as well as a "PAIN" meter. Filling up either gives access to powerful "Super Punches" that can do massive damage to the opponent's health meter. Members of the audience even call for specific blows, and if you can hit with the called blow ASAP it gives a massive increase to the gauges. It may not be a massive difference in the grand scheme of things, but its does at least make Knockout Kings 2003 somewhat unique when compared to its predecessor/origin, & shows that the devs at least thought of something different to offer GameCube owners with their late release. While the GameCube didn't get Fight Night 2004, it would receive Fight Night Round 2 in 2005, & it even came out alongside the PS2 & Xbox versions, where it had the neat exclusive bonuses of SNES game Super Punch Out! being available for play via emulation, plus Little Mac being included as a playable boxer against the pros.
OK, so this one is cheating a little bit due to its origin, but due to the publisher becoming a third-party it later received a port... and the amount of time that had passed between the original release & the GameCube port still makes it worth including here, I feel. By the time Eternal Arcadia came out on the Dreamcast in Japan on October 5, 2000, let alone the November 14, 2000 release of Skies of Arcadia in North America (& especially the April 27, 2001 release in Europe!), Sega had already internally decided that the console would be its last, something that would be publicly announced on January 31, 2001, as the company would start shifting over to becoming a third-party developer/publisher. Still, Dreamcast owners who did purchase & play Skies of Arcadia found it to be an excellent RPG based around the idea of captaining a pirate airship & exploring a world made up of floating continents in search of treasure, while also advancing the main plot where (naturally) our pirate heroes help save the world from a long-sealed away power that's been reawakened by the villains. While it wasn't exactly one of the Dreamcast's better selling games, it's generally considered one of the best games in its catalog.
In October 2001 it was then announced that Skies of Arcadia would get ported over to both the PS2 & GameCube, with US studio Point of View Software handling the ports. As development continued on throughout 2002 the PS2 version would get cancelled, resulting in Skies of Arcadia Legends finally seeing release as a GameCube-exclusive in Japan on December 26, 2002 & North America on January 28, 2003, both roughly 26 months after their initial releases on Dreamcast; Europe would receive it on May 23, 2003, only 23 months after the Dreamcast release there. Skies of Arcadia Legends was considered a bit of a "director's cut" by Sega & the late producer Rieko Kodama, as while some things that relied on the Dreamcast's iconic VMU were either altered or straight up removed, this GC port did feature a variety of improvements & additions, like more detailed character models, a better & more consistent frame rate, reduced loading times, & new side quests & treasure to find; encounter rates were also lowered, with post-battle experience & gold gains adjusted, in turn. The only thing that the Dreamcast original looks to be considered better at is with the audio, which is seemingly more compressed on the GameCube, but by & large Skies of Arcadia Legends is often seen as the superior version of the game... and the price copies go for today sure seem to reflect that.
Again, this game may not 100% follow the exact concept of the other bizarrely late GameCube ports seen in this B-List, but I have a feeling that if I didn't include it then I'd risk the chance of someone saying that I "forgot" to include it. But, also, a 26-month gap between the initial release & the GameCube port is a pretty big gap, one that I'm sure no other game even got close to, let alone surpassed... right?
For the last "standard" entry in this B-List let's go with something that is a bit absurd, both in how long it took for this port to come to GameCube & also in the exact choice of game that was ported over. First released in 1994 (both for the Taito Type B board & later for the Neo Geo MVS), Puzzle Bobble was a spin-off of Taito's iconic 1986 arcade game Bubble Bobble where the iconic dragon kids Bub & Bob were now tasked with popping bubbles by launching colored bubbles at similarly colored ones on the field, & if at least three of the same color are linked then they pop; there are obviously more mechanics to this, but that's the basic gist. This first game would spawn an entire franchise of its own, one that's long superseded Bubble Bobble itself & has become beloved by players the world over, though its name internationally has sometimes been changed to Bust-A-Move, depending on the entry; it used to be more cut & dry at first, but ever since the mid-00s or so it's become much more random. Anyway, on September 28, 2000 the game Super Puzzle Bobble came out on the PS2, marking the fifth "main" entry & the first one to not initially launch in arcades; it would then see international release later that November & December as Super Bust-A-Move.
Super Busty-A-Move was known mostly for its wildly different art style, one that eschewed the original anime-esque look for something more akin to pop art, & the box art for Acclaim's North American release becoming instantly notorious for just how... weird it was. Anyway, the game would then see a port to Windows PC & the GBA in late 2001, followed by a straight sequel in 2002 that was published internationally by Ubi Soft that same year. Then, in February 2003, the GameCube received Super Puzzle Bobble All-Stars/Bust-A-Move 3000, which first came out in North America & Japan, followed by a European release way later in September. However, instead of being a port of the more recent Super Bust-A-Move 2, this was actually a port of Super Bust-A-Move, making this a port that came out 29 months after the original Japanese PS2 release... and over in Europe that length extended out to a literal three whole years! I can't even fathom why Taito decided to port over the initial game to the GameCube instead of the newer entry, especially since in terms of gameplay the two were very similar (outside of the new game having an Edit Mode), but at least Super Puzzle Bobble All-Stars/Bust-A-Move 3000 added the ability to play with up to four players (over the PS2 version's two) & a new mode (Shoot Bubble) that played similarly to Space Invaders.
However, just to make things all the more confusing... Ubi Soft decided to give Bust-A-Move 3000 the same exact key art for its cover as Super Bust-A-Move 2, as well as extremely similar back cover copy (a la Knockout Kings 2002 & 2003), no doubt in an attempt to make people think that this was a port of the newer game, and not actually a port of the prior entry. I'm not saying Bust-A-Move 3000 is a bad game, but this is the perfect example of the kind of release that sometimes made the GameCube feel like the little brother console that was often given hand-me-downs; it gets a port late, and it's not even a port of the newest entry!
Finally, for variety, let's end with a sextet of GameCube ports that arrived late, but seemingly offered nothing new or exclusive to make up for the fact that they came out so long after the original release(s). For example there's Army Men: Air Combat - The Elite Missions, the North American-exclusive GameCube sequel to 2000's Army Men: Air Combat on the N64, which came out on March 25, 2003 & was a port of the PS2 game Army Men: Air Attack 2 that came out on March 27, 2001... two whole years prior, & offered literally nothing new when compared to said PS2 version; in fact, it was generally dinged heavily in reviews for looking rather dated by 2003 standards. The following year the GameCube saw the release of Army Men: RTS, a real-time strategy entry in the franchise developed by the long-defunct Pandemic Studios (& generally considered one of the best entries), which came out on November 2, 2004... 32 months after the game's original release on PS2 & PC, yet offered absolutely nothing new to make up for the long wait; at least the game itself is generally considered pretty good. In fact, Army Men: RTS came out so late on GameCube that The 3DO Company had already gone out of business 18 months prior, in May 2003, & was being published on GameCube by current IP owner Take-Two, under their Global Star Software label.
Another good example, though nowhere hear as wildly late as those Army Men games, is Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, the second entry in IO Interactive's iconic stealth-focused series starring the legendary Agent 47. It originally saw release on Windows PC, PS2, & Xbox in October 2002, but eventually IO & publisher Eidos Interactive would put out a GameCube port in June 2003, eight months later. Not just that, but Eidos actually got in some trouble when it came to the GameCube port's release, as they plastered "9/10 Electronic Gaming Monthly Gold Award" onto the North American cover... despite that not being the score that EGM actually gave the GC port (in reality it was a 7, 8, & 8.5), but rather was the score given to the PS2 version. After EGM confronted Eidos about this Eidos promised to remove it from future printings, but it's entirely possible that Eidos never made a second print run, as I can't find visual proof of a North American GameCube port cover that doesn't feature the misleading promotional line. Up next is a North American-exclusive port of a game that was originally a European exclusive, Lotus Challenge. Developed by the now-defunct Kuju Entertainment, this Lotus Cars-themed racing game was originally a PS2-exclusive that only came out in Europe on November 2, 2001, but eventually saw ports to Windows PC & Xbox in early 2003, with the Xbox port seeing North American release by Xicat Interactive later that April as Motor Trend Presents Lotus Challenge. Then, in May 2004, Ignition Entertainment announced that it'd be releasing a GameCube port, initially titled "Lotus Extreme" before seeing release under its original name as a North American-exclusive on August 4, 2004... 33 months after the original PS2 version's release! Unsurprisingly, while the Xbox version can still be found for rather cheap in complete form, the GameCube version of Lotus Challenge goes for decent bit more, though not absurdly so by any means.
You know things are getting especially weird, because up next is a game that I didn't even know had a GameCube port until I started accumulating entries for this list! In June 1996 Natsume Inc. published Mark Davis' The Fishing Master for the SNES, a localization of Oumono Black Bass Fishing: Jinzouko-Hen for the Super Famicom the year prior (which was published by Acclaim Japan) that added in voice clips from pro fisherman Mark Davis. Then, seven whole years later, a sequel came out on the PS2 in the form of Mark Davis Pro Bass Challenge, which came out on August 27, 2003 in North America first, followed by a European release, though there would also be a Japanese release (without Mark Davis) under Success' SuperLite 2000 label that November as Big Bass: Bass-tsuri Kanzen Kouryaku. After more or less coming & going with little to no fanfare (or even any real critical reception, as reviews for it are seemingly nonexistent), Natsume then decided to port Mark Davis Pro Bass Challenge to the GameCube, as a North American exclusive, where it came out on September 20, 2005, 25 months later; it would then get re-released digitally on the PS3 as a PS2 Classic in 2014. Finally, we end with Starsky & Hutch, a driving/shooting hybrid game based on the American TV series that ran from 1975 to 1979 (& predates the 2004 film reimagining) which had the neat gimmick of asymmetrical co-op, where one player drove while the other shot at foes & obstacles. The game originally came out in Europe for Windows PC, PS2, & Xbox on June 20, 2003, followed by a North American release on those same platforms on September 9. A port to the GBA would then come out in North America on September 12, followed by a European release on September 26... alongside a port to the GameCube in Europe; three months later, but that's not terribly long. However, North America wouldn't receive the GameCube port of Starsky & Hutch until August 24 (or 31, according to some places), 2004, just shy of an entire year after the PC, PS2, & Xbox versions saw release in North America. The only reason I can think of would be due to Empire Interactive needing to publish it themselves in the region, whereas Take-Two label Gotham Games published the initial versions & they were gone by the start of 2004; they could have also wanted to play off of the movie's theatrical debut, but that happened months before this release. The worst part of all, though, is that the GameCube version is the least appealing version, as the PS2 & Xbox versions both include support for racing wheels and light guns, but while the GameCube saw wheels it never saw a light gun; yeah, this port was both late & technically lost a feature!
-----
Even with that bonus deluge of entries at the end, though, I'm sure that this still isn't all of the bizarrely late GameCube ports that exist. Hell, I could have included homebrew release Xeno Crisis, which received a GameCube (& N64) port in April 2023, 42 months after its original Genesis/Mega Drive & PC release in October 2019. Not just that, but I made sure to only include examples here where it was just the GameCube port that came out by itself late, as there are also numerous examples where a game received later ports to both the GameCube & either the PS2 or Xbox (depending on what the initial release was for), and I felt that including those kinds of examples would muddy the waters somewhat. Why did the GameCube receive so many bizarrely late ports? I'm sure there are plenty of logical reasons for that, but I do remember seeing those who went with Nintendo for this generation often lamenting & complaining online about this kind of treatment, and it kind of has become a small but still notable aspect of the console's life.
4x4 Evo 2 © 2001 Terminal Reality Inc./Universal Interactive
Smuggler's Run: Warzones © 2002 Rockstar Games, Inc.
Knockout Kings 2003 © 2002 Electronic Arts Inc.
Skies of Arcadia Legends © 2000, 2003 Overworks/Sega
Super Puzzle Bobble All-Stars/Bust-A-Move 3000 © Taito Corporation 1995, 2001
Army Men: Air Combat - The Elite Missions © 2002 The 3DO Company (now Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.)
Army Men: RTS © 2004 Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin © 2003 IO Interactive A/S
Lotus Challenge © 2004 Kuju Entertainment Ltd.
Mark Davis Pro Bass Challenge © 2005 Natsume Inc. © 2005 SIMS Co., Ltd.
Starsky & Hutch © 2003 CPT Holdings Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment